We hope to see everyone at the book signing on Sunday, October 5, at Sue’s Corner in Granite City.  If you need directions, please call me at 444-6808.

Well, she has not called yet, but we are hoping for a call.  (I mean, isn’t everyone!)  Keep your fingers crossed.

The weekend was crazy, with eight 11-year-old girls here to celebrate my niece Bailey’s eleventh birthday!  Oh my goodness.  We had the slumber party, the hayride, the bonfire, the pinata, the cupcake decorating, the ice cream cake fight (don’t ask) and then those that did not get any sleep.  There were frozen socks, kids with ice cream in their hair and then the skating party on Saturday.  There was also talk of the Jonas Brothers.  (They asked me to ask Ted at Radio Disney if he could give the Jonas Brothers a call to see if they could stop by.  Yeah, right.)  All of that being said, we would not have traded this weekend for anything.  We really enjoyed having the girls.  We also learned words like “dude” (they think they invented that word), “rad” and “cool”.  Also, did you know that “Hannah Montana was so yesterday”? 

So, as I sit here on Sunday night, I only hope that each of the girls had fun and will remember this party for many years to come.  What memories do you have of your favorite party?  Mine was my 16th birthday party — my first boy/girl party.   

It was an honor to serve as the keynote speaker for the RiverBend Growth Association Women’s Conference.  What a great group!  We discussed networking, branding and marketing ideas.  My thanks to the RiverBand Growth Association for allowing me to speak, to the committee for their hard work, to the sponsors and to the attendees.  If you would like to see what we talked about, e-mail me at dawn@troycoc.com. 

Okay, I have to admit, I watch “Tori and Dean in Hollywood”.  I have always liked Tori Spelling and when this reality show came on, I couldn’t resist.  I love it.  Anyway, one of the last episodes showed her at her book signing.  I said to my sister “I can’t wait to have my ‘Tori Spelling moment’”.  Well, the women’s conference, I had that moment.  It was surreal.  My thanks to all who purchased books at the seminar. 

Last night we had our 25th Class Reunion for Granite City High School South.  It was so great to see everyone.  It was amazing how seeing certain individuals took me back in time.  My best memories from high school are from band.  My thanks to Cathy and Mary for helping to bring back those memories.  Who could forget spending so much time in the band room?  It was also great seeing everyone from Niedringhaus Grade School.  WOW, that has been many, many years ago. 

If your reunion is coming up soon, do not miss the moment. 

What an exciting day!  After many, many years of working toward the book, it is finally here.  It arrived today via UPS.  When I first saw it, the time seemed so surreal.  But, I had envisioned the front and back covers many years ago and actually holding it brought tears to my eyes.

I encourage you to continue to envision your future.  I now believe that everything is possible.

Well, I knew it was coming but didn’t think it would come this soon.  I had the experience of running into someone who viewed the excerpt of my book online and didn’t think that I “got it”.  The comment was that my book covered customer service for retail and service but that in their particular company, it was different.  They noted that their customers were often very, very angry and it was just a completely different industry.

My hope that is when people read my book they see beyond the particular example put in front of them.  The trick is to try to apply the information to their company.  For example, I may give an example of being in a grocery store and receiving rude service.  Then I talk about how the checker responded (or should have responded).  I realize that not everyone works at a grocery story so forget that the example is a grocery store.  Concentrate on looking at response and then think about how you can apply that to your company.  

I realize that not everyone is as excited as I am about customer service.  Okay, now I am over the shock!